Agriculture: Disease Testing

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: To ask Her Majesty's Government why the fees for testing disinfectants for approval for use for foot and mouth diseases and swine vesicular disease are increased from £1,490 to £1,865 by the Diseases of Animals (Approved Disinfectants) (Fees) (England) Order 2009 (SI 2009/839).

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: The Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) delivers the administration of disinfectants testing under the approved disinfectants regime for Defra. The various tests are undertaken by the VLA and the Institute of Animal Health and charges for them are based on full cost recovery. Each year, these laboratories have to estimate the likely requirement for tests and set their charges accordingly. This process was undertaken for the tests for foot-and-mouth disease and swine vesicular disease.

Children: ContactPoint

Lord Moynihan: To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the current projected cost and date of implementation of the ContactPoint database.

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin: The current projected cost for development and set-up of ContactPoint is £224 million, most of which is expected to be incurred by the end of the financial year 2009-10.
	ContactPoint moved into its first phase of delivery in January 2009 when 19 early adopter organisations, comprising 17 local authorities in the North West of England and two national voluntary sector partners—Barnardo's and KIDS—began to train their ContactPoint management teams. In parallel, all local authorities started to shield a small proportion of records on ContactPoint.
	Early adopter organisations have now started to train a limited and controlled group of practitioners to use ContactPoint. These practitioners, who must all go through stringent security checks and training before accessing the system, are being carefully monitored in order to evaluate their experience of using the system. From June to August 2009, ContactPoint management teams in the remaining local authorities and national partner organisations will be trained. This will enable them to make local preparations for wider deployment to users.

Children: ContactPoint

Lord Moynihan: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether local authorities must register the mobile phone numbers of parents ordinarily resident in England on the ContactPoint database, rather than home or business phone numbers.

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin: Information held on ContactPoint has been clearly set out and restricted in Section 12 of the Children Act 2004. Local authorities must supply to ContactPoint the contact details they hold for parents. This could include a mobile telephone number, a landline number which is used for domestic or business purposes or any combination of these.

Children: ContactPoint

Lord Moynihan: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to advise parents on the process of "shielding" on the Contact Point database.

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin: The department and local authorities are already making information about ContactPoint available to children, young people and their parents/carers using a range of methods, such as direct mailing to households, leaflet distribution, publications on websites and through the media.
	Activity has been taking place across England for some time and will increase over the coming months. A range of materials are widely available, including leaflets suitable for young people. The materials include information about shielding, which is an additional security measure appropriate for a small proportion of children's records. Young people, parents or carers are advised to contact their local authority if they have reason to believe their own or their child's record should be shielded on ContactPoint.
	More detailed information is available on the Department for Children, Schools and Families website.

Children: ContactPoint

Lord Moynihan: To ask Her Majesty's Government what are the training programmes and format for the accreditation for security purposes required by professionals who will work with the children and young people to be registered on the ContactPoint database.

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin: In order for professionals who work with children and young people to become authorised users of ContactPoint they must:
	have an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau check, renewed every three years;attend and successfully complete mandatory training on the use of ContactPoint, which includes security responsibilities, the importance of good security practice, the Data Protection Act and Human Rights Act;be provided with the ContactPoint Security Operating Procedures; andsign an end user agreement form which sets out the responsibilities and commitments that an authorised user of ContactPoint agrees.
	ContactPoint users will also need to be subject to monitoring by the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) when it is introduced.

Civil Service: Performance Pay

Lord Newby: To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 20 April (WA 318) concerning the amount of funding for Senior Civil Servants' performance-related pay, what were the figures requested.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: Funding for Senior Civil Servants' performance-related pay is calculated as a percentage of the total pay bill. The attached table summarises the paybill figures for each year since 2005 and the percentage of the paybill that was applied as performance-related pay, in line with SCS pay policy set by the Cabinet Office, following recommendations by the Senior Salaries Review Body.
	
		
			 Year 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 
			 SCS Paybill £14,177,765 £18,135,458 £19,208,849 £17,199,520 £18,570,568 
			 Performance Pay Pot 5.0% 6.5% 7.6% 8.6% 8.6%

Criminal Records Bureau

Lord Moynihan: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in advance of the ContactPoint database being activated, professionals who work with children will have undergone Criminal Records Bureau checks; when that was last verified; and by whom.

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin: All professionals who work with children and young people who need access to ContactPoint are required, as a condition of access, to be subjected to an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau check prior to being granted access to ContactPoint.
	The enhanced Criminal Records Bureau checks will be carried out by the practitioner's employer and be verified as part of the ContactPoint access application process.

Cycling: Safety

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the game on the Cycling Safety page on the Tales of the Road website (http://talesoftheroad. direct.gov.uk/cycling-safety.php), which involves using the cursor to hit children over the head with a mallet if they are not wearing a cycle helmet, and the words that appear with the final score "Nice Work! That'll teach 'em for not wearing a cycle helmet", are appropriate; and whether they will withdraw that page.

Lord Adonis: The Department for Transport is committed to reducing the number of children killed or seriously injured while cycling. As part of a broader communication strategy to educate children about road safety, an online game was designed to encourage 6 to 11-year-olds to wear cycle helmets, which can help reduce head injuries.
	After due consideration, the department removed the game from the website on 21 May 2009, as we agreed that it was not appropriate.

Employment: Discrimination

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government in light of the report entitled Discrimination in Recruitment: Evidence from a Field Experiment, carried out by the Economic and Social Research Institute of the Republic of Ireland, which demonstrated discrimination against job applicants in the Republic of Ireland with non-Irish names, whether they will add that country to those it monitors for human rights abuses.

Lord Malloch-Brown: The Government have no plans to add Ireland to the countries it monitors for human rights abuses.

Energy: Wind Generation

Lord Reay: To ask Her Majesty's Government what the additional financial support set out in the Budget for offshore wind farms will add to electricity consumers' bills.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: If a higher level of support as set out in the Budget for offshore wind under the renewables obligation were to go ahead, it would have no cost in the short term before the projects start generating electricity. It will have an impact on electricity bills in the longer term. The final cost would depend on how many projects proceed and meet the criteria and the effect that this has on the electricity market.
	Our expectation is that this proposal could be worth some £2 billion to £3 billion of additional support over the twenty years' lifetime of the projects. Officials are currently undertaking work to assess the longer-term impact of renewables policy measures on consumer energy bills, as part of the renewable energy strategy.

Equal Pay

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they consider that the publication by an employer of information indicating the average pay of women and men respectively in the employer's undertaking would be sufficient in itself to enable the identification of any prima facie direct or indirect sex discrimination within the undertakings and the means of eliminating any such discrimination.

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: No: we consider it very unlikely that a single figure relating to gender pay over the whole of a large undertaking would in itself be sufficient evidence to found an equal pay or sex discrimination claim in any individual case. What it would do is reveal the existence of any pay gap, and enable both employers and employees to raise questions as to its causes—and as a result take steps to remedy it.

Equality and Human Rights Commission

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by the Lord President (Baroness Royall of Blaisdon) on 24 April (WA 419), whether the selection process for appointing the chair and other members of the Equality and Human Rights Commission applies to their reappointment.

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: The process for reappointing a chair and other board members of the Equality and Human Rights Commission differs from the process of making new appointments as there is no requirement to advertise a post should a decision be taken to reappoint a current member. Reappointments are governed by time and performance criteria set out by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments. There is no guarantee of any reappointment being favourably considered. To be considered for reappointment members must have performed satisfactorily during their current term. The Government Equalities Office has ensured there is an appropriate performance assessment process in place to provide the necessary evidence for considering any reappointments. The Minister for Women and Equality has the final decision on reappointments based on performance assessments.

Equality Bill

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend the regulations to be made under clause 73 of the Equality Bill to require employers to publish information sufficient to identify gender pay gaps at different grades within undertakings with sufficient detail to identify the existence of prima facie direct or indirect sex discrimination in pay within those undertakings.

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: The Government's aim is for employers regularly to publish information about what they pay their male and female employees on a voluntary basis. The Equality and Human Rights Commission is bringing employers and unions together to recommend how gender pay reporting should operate in practice and in particular the measures that employers should be encouraged to report on. If sufficient progress has not been made by 2013 in the voluntary reporting, we will prepare regulations to require reporting of specified information. It is too early to say what any regulations which may be made under clause 73 will prescribe.

Equality Bill

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the justification for excluding from the scope of clause 73 of the Equality Bill employers who have fewer than 250 employees.

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: We want to maximise the number of employees whose employers publish gender-based information about their pay, while avoiding the imposition of excessive burdens on business. We are therefore proposing coverage of larger employers who between them employ around 50 per cent of the workforce outside the public sector, and who should be best able to produce and publish information on gender pay. Small and medium-sized employers with fewer than 250 employees are of course free to publish gender pay information, and we would strongly encourage them to do so.

Equality Bill

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: To ask Her Majesty's Government having regard to the obligations imposed upon employers under the Equal Pay Act 1970 as amended to secure equal pay for women and men without sex discrimination, what is the justification for deferring the exercise of the power to make regulations under clause 73 of the Equality Bill until 2013.

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: All employers are bound by the Equal Pay Act 1970, and will continue to be bound by their successor provisions in the Equality Bill. Not all differences in pay between women and men are as a result of failure to comply with the Equal Pay Act. The voluntary disclosure regime which is proposed, supported by the power in Clause 73 is aimed at giving people the ability address the causes of any gender pay gap in their organisations whatever they might be.

Equality Bill

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the power proposed in clause 73 of the Equality Bill and regulations made thereunder would have to be interpreted and applied so as to comply with the obligations imposed by European Union equal pay legislation.

Baroness Royall of Blaisdon: Clause 73 is not part of the UK's scheme for implementing Article 141 of the Treaty of Rome or the Recast Directive (Council Directive 2006154/EC), neither of which contains obligations to require this kind of disclosure, so no question requiring such an interpretation to be made should arise.

EU: Legislation

Lord Stoddart of Swindon: To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Lord Malloch-Brown on 18 May (WA 253), (a) what would be the likely cost of research into the proportion of United Kingdom legislation originating in the European Union; and (b) what assessment they have made of the figure of 75 per cent as the proportion quoted by some political parties and organisations and by the Independent on 19 May (page 27).

Lord Malloch-Brown: The Government have not assessed the likely cost of research into this issue. The Government believe that any expenditure would be disproportionate given the limited purpose such figures would serve.
	The Government do not believe that the figure of 75 per cent is accurate. A House of Commons Library analysis of the effects of EU legislation on British law between 1998 and 2005 gave a figure of just 9.1 per cent.

Food and Environment Research Agency

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Statement by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Hilary Benn, on 23 March (Official Report, House of Commons, 1—2WS), how many of the staff of the component parts of the new Food and Environment Research Agency have not transferred and what are their grades.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: The attached table summarises the Defra staff from the Plant Health Division/ Plant Health and Seeds Inspectorate (PHD/PHSI), Plant Variety Rights Office and Seeds Division (PVS) and the Government Decontamination Service (GDS), who did not transfer to FERA on 1 April 2009.
	
		
			  SCS Grade 7 Executive Officer Administration Officer Total No of staff who did not transfer to Fera 
			 GDS 11 
			 PHD/PHSI 1  1 1 3 
			 PVS  1  2 3 
			 Total 2 1 1 3 7 
		
	
	All staff in the Central Science Laboratory transferred to the new agency.

Government Departments: Bottled Water

Baroness Warsi: To ask Her Majesty's Government how much the Department for International Development spent on bottled water in each of the past five years.

Lord Tunnicliffe: Since January 2008 the Department for International Development (DfID) has not purchased bottled mineral water as a matter of course, but instead uses bottled filtered mains water that is prepared on site.

Government Departments: Relocation

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether an official announcement has been made on any scheme for the location of Government departments on a new site adjacent to Manchester Piccadilly station on the site of the Mayfield station.

Baroness Andrews: On 1 May my right honourable friend the Minister for the North West announced a feasibility study into plans for a civil service campus on public land near Piccadilly Station in Manchester.

Human Rights

Lord Laird: To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Lord Malloch-Brown on 20 April (WA 348), why they do not maintain a list of the names and types of cases where the United Kingdom has requested a referral to the European Court of Human Rights Grand Chamber; and what would be the cost of maintaining such details.

Lord Malloch-Brown: It is not the general practice of the Government routinely to keep statistical information in relation to cases before the European Court of Human Rights, including cases before the Grand Chamber. As there are no plans to maintain such statistics, no assessment has been made of possible costs.

Organophosphates

The Countess of Mar: To ask Her Majesty's Government when the interdepartmental committee on organophosphates, also known as the Carden Committee, last met; what subjects were discussed; whether their deliberations were minuted and published; and which members attended.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: The Official Group on Organophosphates (sometimes referred to as the Carden Committee) last met on 26 June 2007. The meeting discussed the government-sponsored research programme on organophosphates and agreed that all of the research should be referred to the Committee on Toxicity (COT) of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment. The John Harvey report, aircraft cabin-air contamination, the Australian review of diazinon were also discussed.
	The Chief Veterinary Officer and other officials from the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, Scottish Government Rural Directorate, the Department of Health, the Health and Safety Executive, the Food Standards Agency, the Ministry of Defence and the Office for Science and Innovation attended the meeting.
	Apologies were received from the Welsh Assembly Government, Department for Agriculture and Rural Development Northern Ireland, the Pesticide Safety Directorate, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the Scottish Government Health Directorate, the Health Protection Agency and the Cabinet Office.
	The minutes of these meetings are not published.

Products of Animal Origin

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their forecast of the quantity of personal imports of products of animal origin that will follow the introduction of the new paragraph (7) in regulation 4 of the Products of Animal Origin (Third Country Imports) (England) Regulations 2006 by the Products of Animal Origin (Third Country Imports) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2009 (SI 2009/875).

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: The recent amendment to the Products of Animal Origin (Third Country Imports) (England) Regulations 2006 simply updates existing paragraphs to reflect the revised Commission Regulation (EC) No 206/2009 of 5 March 2009 on the introduction into the Community of personal consignments of products of animal origin, repealing Regulation (EC) No 745/2004 and amending Regulation (EC) No 136/2004.
	There is no official forecast of the quantity of personal imports of products of animal origin as a consequence of the revised European Union (EU) personal imports rules from 1 May. There is no change to the ban on personal imports of meat and dairy products (the products which constitute the main animal health risk) from most countries outside the EU.
	However, increases in the permitted amounts of other products of animal origin posing little or no risk to animal health (such as fish/fishery products and honey) will more likely result in an increase in the quantity of these products being brought into the United Kingdom. This will be particularly evident in respect of the increase in the amount permitted for fish and fishery products from 1 kg under the previous rules to a 20kg combined total. Personal imports of non-meat and dairy products from certain countries are also now permitted (although restricted) when they were not permitted under the previous rules.
	The quantity of personal imports being brought into the UK is of course dependent on other issues too, such as a reduction or increase in the number of passengers entering the UK from outside the EU.

Rats

Lord Jones of Cheltenham: To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of rats in the United Kingdom in each year for which figures are available since 2001.
	To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that rats have developed an immunity to standard poisons; and what plans they have to counter any increase in the rat population.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: The Government do not hold data on the size of the UK rat population. However, the latest report on rodent presence in domestic properties as revealed by the English House Condition Survey data for 2002-03 and 2003-04 is available on Defra's website. Key findings are that the occurrences of rats inside and outside properties in these years are not significantly different from those observed in 2001.
	The former Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food funded an assessment of resistance to rodenticides in 1998. This was published in: Kerins, G.M.; Dennis, N.; Atterby, H.; Gill, J.E. & MacNicoll A.D. (2001) Distribution of resistance to anticoagulant rodenticides in the Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus Berk.) in England 1995-98. In: Advances in Vertebrate Pest Management Volume II (Eds. H-J Pelz, D.P Cowan & C.J. Feare) pages 149-159, Filander Verlag, Furth.
	The Health and Safety Executive is aware from literature that rats may be becoming increasingly resistant to anticoagulant rodenticides. Although it is aware of the research mentioned above, it is not aware of any new studies and has not itself commissioned any recent work of this nature. The department is currently considering if it is possible to allow more effective rodenticide to be deployed.
	Under the Prevention of Damage by Pests Act 1949, local authorities have a duty to take such steps, as may be necessary, to secure, so far as is practicable, that their districts are kept free from rats and mice.

Schools: Teachers

Baroness Walmsley: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the role of volunteers in providing one-to-one reading support in primary schools.
	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether only trained teachers are used to provide intensive one-to-one literacy support in primary schools; and what are the cost implications of the sole use of trained teachers.

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin: There are currently three funded programmes with an element of one-to-one literacy support in primary schools. The Every Child a Writer programme and the one-to-one tuition programme (which covers English and mathematics) are delivered solely by qualified tutors. A qualified tutor is:
	someone with qualified teacher status (QTS);an overseas qualified teacher eligible to teach in schools in England;a newly qualified teacher in the summer before he or she attains QTS; andsomeone with teaching and subject-specific qualifications from the higher or further education sectors.
	In the third programme, Every Child a Reader, the intensive support reading recovery element is delivered only by a trained teacher. The Fisher Family Trust Wave 3 materials are delivered one-to-one by a teaching assistant.
	The total cost of the one-to-one tuition programme and the tuition element of the Every Child a Writer programme is £468 million in this Comprehensive Spending Review period. This figure includes the cost of paying qualified tutors to deliver the tuition. During the school day, tutors are paid according to the pay scale set out in the school teachers' pay and conditions document. Outside the school day, tutors are paid a suggested set rate, which was calculated based on teacher pay scales, research into the private tuition market and experience from the Making Good Progress pilot.
	In addition primary schools are able to access help from volunteers to support children's reading, both locally organised programmes, and through national charities such as Volunteer Reading Help, which is supported by a government grant of £150,000 in this year. In 2008-09 some 4,500 children received one-to-one support from VRH-trained volunteers typically in two half-hour sessions twice a week throughout the school year.

St Helena: Airport

Lord Jones of Cheltenham: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have received communications from individuals or companies expressing interest in financing the proposed airport in St Helena; and, if so, whether any further meetings are planned.

Lord Tunnicliffe: The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Mike Foster, met with representatives of one company following receipt of outline proposals that included ideas about financing. A further meeting with officials has been held at the company's request, and further meetings may follow.

St Helena: Airport

Lord Jones of Cheltenham: To ask Her Majesty's Government when they last met Impregilo, the preferred bidder for the proposed airport in St Helena; and what was the outcome of the meeting.

Lord Tunnicliffe: The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Mike Foster, met with representatives of Impregilo S.p.A. on 10 February 2009. He agreed to keep them updated in respect of any decision on the airport. This is now the subject of a public consultation.

Student Loans

Baroness Sharp of Guildford: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to sell off part of the student loan book, as provided for in the Sale of Student Loans Act 2008.

Lord Drayson: The Government still intend to make sales from the student loan book, but it is clear that this should only be done at a time when we can get a good return for the taxpayer. For the time being, the market conditions do not allow this. However we will actively look to identify opportunities for a sale that represents value for money as market conditions improve.

Swine Flu

Baroness Neville-Jones: To ask Her Majesty's Government what help they have given or offered to the Government of Mexico to contain swine flu.

Lord Tunnicliffe: The UK Government have been in regular contact with the Mexican authorities about the outbreak and two specialists from the UK Health Protection Agency have been temporarily seconded to our embassy in Mexico City to provide a direct link between health professionals in both countries. The Mexican Government have not made a direct request for bilateral assistance from the United Kingdom.

Turkey

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the prosecutions in Turkey of Ahmet Turk, Emin Ayna, Fatma Kurtulan, Sebahettin Demirtas, Sebahat Tuncel and Aysel Tugluk, some of whom are elected parliamentarians, allegedly accused on grounds arising from their speeches, affect Turkey's application for European Union membership; if not, whether they will raise the matter with Turkey; and whether the European Union will take any action.

Lord Malloch-Brown: The charges against the Democratic Society Party (DTP) MPs relate to statements which were allegedly part of speeches the MPs made prior to their election to parliament. However, the DTP believe that as MPs they still benefit from parliamentary immunity for the alleged offences. Debate between parliament and the courts about how the immunity provisions in the constitution should be interpreted is ongoing and it is therefore unclear at present whether the trial will go ahead. No further legal developments are expected before the end of September 2009 but we will continue to follow this issue closely.
	We remain concerned about freedom of expression in Turkey and continue to stress to the Turkish Government that whilst we condemn all acts of and support for terrorism, the non-violent expression of legitimate views should not be prosecuted. This is also highlighted in the European Commission's annual progress report of November 2008 as not being in line with the European Court of Human Rights case law. The point is likely to reappear in this year's report and will need to be addressed if Turkey is to make progress on EU accession.
	In our contacts with the DTP we also stress that they need to distance themselves from violence if they are to take an active and constructive role in finding a solution to the Kurdish issue.

Zimbabwe

Lord Taylor of Holbeach: To ask Her Majesty's Government which authority monitors the standards of establishments in Zimbabwe approved under Commission Decision 94/40/EC for the purpose of importing meat products into the European Union; when they last did so; and where any reports are published.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: It is the responsibility of the competent authority in Zimbabwe to monitor the standards of establishments in Zimbabwe approved under Commission Decision 94/40/EC to export meat products to the European Union. The European Commission's Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) is responsible for carrying out checks on compliance with the requirements of EU food safety and quality, veterinary and plant health legislation both within the European Union and of equivalent standards in third countries that are approved to export to the EU.
	The last FVO mission to Zimbabwe was in June 2003 on farmed ratite (ostrich) meat. The FVO publishes its reports on its website.